Westland Aircraft Limited

Geoffrey John Humphrey

James E Saunders

A freewheel coupling for drivingly connecting co-axial driving and driven shafts includes preventer means adapted to automatically prevent engagement except when the speed of rotation of the driving and driven shafts is substantially synchronized. The preventer means comprises a ball bearing having a ball race located in circumferential trackways in inner and outer races attached respectively to first and second coupling parts, and having a plurality of slots extending laterally from one of the trackways so as to permit relative axial movement of the coupling parts by movement of the balls of the ball race in the slots.

Freewheel coupling

This invention discloses oil purifying means suitable for installation in any gear assembly that includes a gear supported in a stationary housing for rotation about an axis and having a generally planar surface extending radially from the axis. The purifying means includes first means arranged during rotation of the gear, to direct a supply of lubricating oil onto the surface so that the oil is centrifuged outwardly and into second means forming an annular cavity adjacent the peripheral region of the gear. The cavity has an inwardly directed opening providing separate inlet and outlet fluid flow paths arrange so that, during rotation of the gear, lubricating oil is centrifuged through the inlet into the cavity wherein the direction of oil is reversed so that the oil exhausts through the outlet and contaminent particles in the oil are retained in the cavity due to centrifugal force. Thus, the purifying means of the present invention utilizes the energy of the rotating gear, and is automatically operational all the time that the gear is being rotated. Examples of embodiments suitable for both vertical and horizontal installations are disclosed, and the purifying means can be used either independently to provide the sole purification in a particular installation, or in combination with a conventional filter to further reduce the level of contamination. The purifying means can be incorporated in any number of suitable gears in a particular installation.

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Yeovil, United Kingdom

Geoffrey John Humphrey